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Ludhiana: 64-year-old shopkeeper charred to death
In a tragic incident, a 64-year-old shopkeeper was charred to death after a fire broke out at his grocery shop in Ludhiana’s Basti Jodhewal
In a tragic incident, a 64-year-old shopkeeper was charred to death after a fire broke out at his grocery shop at Warriach market in Basti Jodhewal on Thursday morning.
The deceased has been identified as Mahinder Pal. According to eyewitnesses, the fire broke out minutes after Mahinder opened the shop. The blaze caused the compressor of the refrigerator to explode. The impact was so strong that the refrigerator fell out of the shop.
Flames engulfed the shop within seconds and the deceased did not get a chance to escape. Eyewitnesses said that they tried to douse the flames by throwing water with buckets and informed the fire brigade. Fire fighters managed to control the flames within 20 minutes, but before they could rescue Mahinder, he had already been charred to death.
Police have sent the body to civil hospital for postmortem and initiated an investigation. According to the police, the shop caught flames from incense sticks.
Gagan, the victim’s son, said that the family has been running the grocery shop for the past two decades. His father used to open the shop in the morning and he and his mother used to operate it till night.
He added that his father was a diabetic and heart patient. He used to offer prayers and lit incense sticks at the shop. Gagan suspects that the incense sticks could have fallen on sacks containing raw grocery, which caused the blaze.
Inspector Gurmukh Singh, station house officer (SHO) at Basti Jodhewal police station, said that they have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrpC) based on Gagan’s statement.
